Recipes

Pimp'd Potato

Possibly the classic student meal. You really can't beat it. Simple to make, fills you up and costs you about 40p. As we're now in the 21st century, the ole' jacket potato deserves a bit of a pimpin.' So in this recipe, after it's cooked, the middle is hollowed out and the potato gets mixed with grated cheddar and strips of tasty bacon, then put back in and grilled. Mmmmyeah!!

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients:
1 baking potato
olive oil
salt
2 rashers of bacon
knob of butter
big handful of grated cheddar cheese

OTHER INFO

For: 1
Vegetarian: No
Vegan: No
Cooking Level: Easy
Time to prepare: 1 hour 30 minutes (but most of this time is the potato cooking in the oven)

NUTRITIONAL INFO

PER MEAL
	Calories	650
LOW	Sugars	1.48g
MED	Fat	35.84g
MED	Saturates	16.3g
MED	Salt	1.89g

STEP 01

Put the oven onto 200C

STEP 02

Get the potato and prick it a few times with a fork.

If you're in a rush and want the potato to cook quicker, pop it in the microwave and cook on full power for about a minute and a half. This speeds up the cooking time in the oven, meaning you only need to cook it for about 45 minutes.

STEP 03

If you're not in a rush and want a tasty, crispy skin to the potato, carefully pour olive oil onto the potato. It might be best to put the potato on a plate and spoon olive oil over the potato, or just pour some olive oil onto your hands and sensually massage the spud.

After washing your hands from the olive oil, sprinkle a bit of salt over the potato.

STEP 04

Once the oven is hot, place the potato inside, close the door and leave it to bake away. You can leave the potato in the oven now from 1 hour up to 3 hours. It won't burn, but slowly cook. I find the longer you leave it, the softer the potato inside becomes.

STEP 05

About 15 minutes before cooking time is up, get a clean plastic chopping board and cut the bacon into thick matchstick size pieces.

STEP 06

Put a drop of oil in a frying pan, heat it up, then when it's hot, fry the strips of bacon. Because they're small, it won't take long, so watch they don't burn.

After 1, 2 or however many hours you've put the potato in the oven for; take the potato out (using oven gloves or a couple of tea towels) and put it on a chopping board. Before cutting it open, check it's cooked. Try pushing a knife through the potato so it goes right into the centre. If it goes through really easily, then it's cooked. If it seems to be a little hard in the centre, put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes or so.

STEP 07

Wait a couple of minutes until the potato cools down slightly then scoop out the potato from the skin into a bowl.

Turn the grill on.

STEP 08

Add the bacon and a good grind of salt and pepper to the potato then mix up and mash it together. (For a vegetarian option, swap the bacon for some baked beans, warmed up in the microwave first).

STEP 09

Scoop the potato filling back into the potato shells and top with the grated cheese. Once the grill is hot, place them under.

STEP 10

Grill until the cheese melts then eat. Goes well with some salad or some tomato ketchup.

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